Conquest boys club raises $1000 to donate a farmyard of animals to the poor in developing countries.

Some members of the Pickering Conquest club holding their donation cans for the Chalice fundraiser.

January 10, 2011. Pickering, ON. The Pickering Conquest boys’
club conquered its Advent challenge, raising over $1,026 to donate
to Chalice, a Canadian Catholic sponsorship program that helps the
needy in developing countries.

The Chalice organization offers a variety
of ways to support the poor, including a Christmas catalog
from which donors can purchase gifts ranging from educational programs
and materials, health care, and community facilities or services to
household items, different types of farm animals, and more. The
most generous gift in the “animals” category was an entire
farmyard of animals, which costs $1,000. This was what the
boys decided to set as their Christmas goal. As of
this past Thursday, January 6, they met and exceeded their
goal by $26.

“At first I thought it was a long
shot,” admitted Club President David Wilson, but as the weeks
rolled by, the money kept coming in. The 29 club
members, most of them between ages 10 and 12, slowly
but surely worked toward their goal.

One of the biggest
supporters of their project was their pastor, Fr Morosco Lett
at Holy Redeemer parish in Pickering.

“He’s been very involved
in our Conquest club. It’s a parish-based club, and he
comes to as many meetings as he can,” noted Wilson.
When some of the club members asked Fr Lett for
permission to stand at the back of the church following
the Sunday Masses, and he announced their presence from the
pulpit after Mass, inviting the parishioners to support their initiative.
That Sunday alone, the boys collected $550.

Just before Christmas, the
boys had almost reached their goal at close to $900,
so the campaign continued into the holidays. Now, only a
few days after the feast of the three Magi, the
Conquest boys club will be able to bring something as
valuable as gold to a developing community: a stable means
of livelihood that will multiply wealth and enable further development.